Case for MSP430, combining 3D-print and laser cutting

Here’s another attempt of making a case for the MSP43o Launchpad, with room for the LCD board I’ve made and touch sensors. The black side is 3d-printed, while the top and bottom is laser-cut. In this model I’ve used screws to fasten the top and bottom plate, but it may have been prettier to glue the top plate on. I could have chosen a less transparent plexiglass/acrylic, but I did it this way in the prototype to show the inside. It would probably be nicer with a less transparent one, but I would have had to cut a hole for the LCD display. I wonder if I could maybe cut a square hole for the lcd display and cut a similar square in transparent plexi, and glue it inside the whole. I might try that out.

There is a room in the side for the USB contact.

There is space between the capacitive sensors on the board and the top plate, and it turns out that air is a bad material to ‘conduct capacitive touch’, while silicone apparently is pretty good. So I filled the room with transparent flexible silicone glue from a tube. The type you use on the bathroom to waterproof stuff. I had to turn up the sensitivity in the firmware, from 1000 with nothing there to 50 (so the effect on capacitance is still pretty big). The acrylicÂ is about 1.5 mm thick, so the total is about 3-4 mm of silicone plus 1.5 mm of acrylic.

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